Year In Review - Grade 5A

! This year we got a lot of freedom, it was completely different to Grade 4. The big differences were that we got lockers and our own MacBooks. That meant we had more freedom then Grade 4 and we were more responsible then last year. We had 6 units in total.!! Our first unit was called “How We Express Ourselves”. It was mostly about how technology in the 21st century is different than the technology in the 20th century. It took place from August 23rd to September 24th. Our central idea for this unit was: Changes in technology create different types of connections between people and their audience. For our summative assessment we needed to design a new communication tool.

! Our second unit was called “How The World Works”. It was mostly about science and chemicals. It took place from the 27th of September to November 5th. Our central idea was: Changes in matter pose challenges and provide benefits. For our summative assessment we wrote a procedural text.

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My Procedural Writing (Summative Assessment)

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!!! Our third unit was called “How We Organize Ourselves”. It was mostly about solid waste around the world. It took place from November 8th to December 17th. Our central was: Decisions made about solid waste management affect societies and the environment. For our summative assessment we did something called “Standing In The Spotlight”. We needed to talk about pros and cons about a waste management system. Our summative assessment was called “Standing In The Spotlight” because you needed stand up on your own and try convince the class that your opinion or view is the right one. !

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! Our fourth unit was called “Sharing The Planet”. It was mostly about human rights and child labor. It took place from January 5th to February 25th. Our central idea was: Actions can support or deny access to childrenʼs rights and equal opportunities. Our summative assessment was writing a recount and making a PSA (Public Service Announcement).

My PSA (Summative Assessment for 4th Unit)

My Summative Recount:

It was a hot and sunny day in the U.S. When I was sitting in my little bedroom next to the religious meeting place. It only had one window and I was pouring down sweat because there wasn’t any breeze. My parents are members of the religious cult. It is our family’s tradition. Everyone wanted it to stay that way except for me Elijah Aayan.

Being in a religious cult is my family’s tradition. Actually at first I was adopted and put into this family the day after my 6th birthday. I was then soon a member of the cult. I have been outside before and also went to school. I miss my school very much. I used to have so much fun learning and playing. But here everything was different.

Everyday was the same I first had my breakfast, then read my book and start basic learning for example learning nouns and verbs. Every once in a while, one of my parents come out of the discussion with other religious cult members and come in my bedroom and look what I was reading or doing. I was also not allowed to know anything about the world outside the religious cult. Therefore I couldn’t read newspapers, watch T.V or listen to the radio. Adding onto that I also didn’t get good quality education or choose some friends from outside our cult.

I thought that it was really unfair for all of us and stopping religious cults would do all of us good in many different types of ways. It also denied our human rights. It didn’t matter how many times I said it but they still didn’t agree.

It is very boring in the religious cult. There were only 4 children in the cult, Me, Benedict, Bethel and Eleazar. None of us got along well, we never did something together. As far as I know none of them have been outside before. I wanted to change that though.

My dream all started on Monday the 11th of February 2008. I was thirteen at the time. All of the children were getting more mature, and we were starting to become friends. The days passed on and it got more and more exciting. We were making our own games and having great fun. On the Friday of that week I got a fabulous idea. I started talking about us making a group to protest against religious cults. We were not trying to ban them but make them more interactive with the world around us and make them friendlier and also give them a wider education about the world. So we all could get along well. Our group was getting more and more popular by the minute we soon got about 40 religious cults around the U.S to be more interactive with the world and stopping them denying there own rights. I was really happy and proud that I achieved my dream, made a difference to the world and made less people suffer with the denial of their human rights.

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! Our fifth unit was called “Where We Are In Place And Time”. It took place from February 28th to April 13th. Our central idea was called: People and places have histories that can be uncovered and interpreted through a variety of sources. For our summative assessment we made a small museum exhibit about people or places that have histories that can be uncovered or interpreted.

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My Museum Exhibit (Summative Assessment for 5th Unit)

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! I experienced a lot of new things in Grade 5. One of the best things I experienced was on the China Trip. We went to Guizhou and visited local villages. We hiked around the villages and saw great views of mountains surrounding us. When we went to the villages we partnered up with local kids and spent the day with them sightseeing. I really enjoyed it because I also got to practice my chinese.

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My Buddy, Friends and Me in the China Trip

! Our last unit was called “Who We Are”. It took place from April 26th to June 16th. We didnʼt have a summative assessment for that unit because it was very short and our end of year parties took up a lot of time but we had a central idea. It was “ The human body is comprised of systems that are continually changing.

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My Learning Goals:

! My two learning goals for Grade 5 were participating more in class discussions and being more descriptive in my writing.! Participating more in class discussions was a goal for me because I still felt quite shy to express my ideas and ask questions in front of everyone. I wanted to be more active and not just sit there listening.! Being more descriptive was also a goal for me because I felt my writing was too simple and basic and didnʼt have much detail in it. I pushed myself all the time to put more effort in it because I wanted to show that I am not lazy. ! I think I achieved both of my goals, I put much more effort and time into my writing than the start of the year. I also feel much less shy when I express my opinions and ideas during class discussions. I think I met both of my goals by not being scared to get the wrong answers and putting more time, being more careful and not rushing in my work. I think achieving my goals helped me a lot this year because I got use to putting more effort, not being shy and towards the end of the year I didnʼt need to remind myself that I need to still follow my goals even if I achieved them.